Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Logo
Name	Veoh
Url	http://veoh.com
Type	Video Distribution
Registration	Free
current status	Acquired by Qlipso
Owner	Jon Goldman, Chief Executive Officer
Author	Dr. Ted Dunning
num employees	754 }}

Veoh is an Internet television company based in San Diego, California. It allows users to find and watch major studio content, independent productions and user-generated material. The company is a subsidiary of Israeli start-up Qlipso.

The company received media attention after Michael Eisner, a former Disney chairman, joined the board. In April 2006, he was one of the investors (along with Time Warner) in the US$12.5 million second round of financing for Veoh and re-affirmed his status in August 2007 as an investor in the company's US$25 million Series C financing round.

In 2008, the domain ''veoh.com'' attracted approximately 17 million unique visitors monthly according to a Quantcast.com study.

On February 11, 2010, in an open letter published on his blog, company founder and former CEO, Dmitry Shapiro, indicated that "the distraction of the legal battles, and the challenges of the broader macro-economic climate have led to our Chapter 7 bankruptcy." On April 7, 2010, it was announced that Israeli start-up company Qlipso acquired Veoh for an undisclosed sum. Qlipso aims to use the acquisition to add users and revenue to its multi-user content sharing service.

Included with recent installations of Veoh is a program called OpenCandy, which some security programs, including Microsoft Security Essentials, class as adware.

History

Veoh was founded by Dmitry Shapiro. The company launched an early version of its distribution technology in September 2005 and debuted its full beta service in March 2006. Veoh officially launched (out of beta) in February 2007. Veoh has raised about US$70 million from venture capital and media investors. Time Warner, Michael Eisner's Tornante Company, Spark Capital, Shelter Capital Partners, Tom Freston's Firefly3 LLC, Jonathan Dolgen (former chairman of Viacom Entertainment Group), Intel, and Goldman Sachs are all major investors.

In addition to the user generated content that Veoh broadcasts, Veoh has distributed content from major media companies including CBS, ABC, The WB, Viacom's MTV Networks, ESPN, FEARNet, Billboard, Ford Models, US Weekly, TV Guide, and others. Independent creators found on Veoh include NextNewNetworks, 60 Frames, Can We Do That?, Goodnight Burbank, and Dave and Tom.

In a controversial move, Veoh made its service unavailable to most markets (Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Central and Eastern Europe) in May 2008.

In January 2009, Veoh announced a new site including support for iPhone/iPod Touch and the Veoh Video Compass. Upon introduction, some controversy arose over the lack of friends lists, mail services, as well as some video info.

In April 2009, following layoffs in November 2008, Veoh reduced its staff by 25 more to 45 remaining employees and reinstated Dmitry Shapiro as its CEO, replacing Steve Mitgang. On February 11, 2010, it was reported that Veoh had laid off most of its remaining staff and is currently in the process of filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Viewing options

Veoh offers two viewing options. The Veoh.com site allows viewers to watch streaming web video from across the Web including via their iPhone or iPod touch. Although somewhat like YouTube, Veoh.com offers a broader selection of network television content and allows viewers to watch full episodes of TV shows and full-length movies. Veoh.com hosts a range of programming, from user generated content to studio content.

Veoh also provided a software application, VeohTV Beta, that enabled "lean back" and remote controllable viewing of web content. In December 2008 Veoh transitioned from VeohTV to the Veoh Web Player. The Veoh Web Player enables users to watch full-length videos on Veoh.com within their browser. It also enables users to download video from Veoh.com and other websites. Veoh Web player comes with Veoh Video compass, many times full versions of the show are not available directly on the website and instead are only offered to those who have downloaded and use their software to access the content.

Publishing videos

Publishers can use their PC to upload videos for distribution. Veoh transcodes the video file so the video is available on Veoh.com, streamed on the publisher's own web site, and in portable devices like iPhones, iPod Touches, iPods and Sony PSPs. Publishers are able to customize the presentation of their content, automatically publish via RSS feeds, and organize video programming into episodic series or complete channels.

Technology

Veoh uses both peer-to-peer (for its player software application) and Adobe Flash-based streaming video (for its website) technologies. Veoh claims its use of peer-to-peer in the player application enables distribution of longer form video files at a much lower cost. It also means that bandwidth costs will not rise in direct proportion to the number of users. Veoh systems use LAMP and Java.

According to the official website, Veoh is freeware.

Recommendations Engine

Veoh's recommendations engine is intended to enable viewers to find content that interests them. The recommendations engine was originally built by co-founder Dr. Ted Dunning, Chief Scientist for Veoh. Subsequently it was renovated by John Dimm in 2007 and finally restructured, refined, and maintained by Alexander Sherbak in 2008 through 2010 utilizing patent pending cluster identification algorithms. Veoh recommendations are based on user view history. As users watch videos, the Veoh recommendation system presents directly relevant video choices based around view histories of users with similar viewing/watch patterns.

Blocked Countries

In late May 2008, Veoh discontinued service in many countries. The company stated that the decision was made in order to focus on the more than 33 markets in which it has the most viewers.

As of May 31, 2008, upon trying to access the site from a Latvian IP address a screen is displayed: "Veoh is no longer available in Latvia & Mauritius" Without prior notice, users from these countries were denied the ability to backup the contents they have contributed to the website. As of June 2008, visitors (IP addresses) in the vast majority of countries, including Asia, portions of Europe, Africa, Central America, and South America, have reported being blocked or experiencing a similar message for their region.

Gaude Paez, a spokesperson told NewTeeVee.com "The markets we are exiting collectively represent less than 10 percent of our viewer base." She maintained that the decision was "not about saving resources but rather refocusing those resources." Recently, however, the restriction has been removed from certain territories such as Puerto Rico. Indian users have reported that the Veoh restrictions were lifted for a month, yet came back in August. Argentina was still blocked in January 2011. As of July 23rd, 2011, the block has been lifted from Brazil.

As of March 30, 2009, Veoh also blocked the Czech Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia and Serbia. Egypt, Romania, Martinique and Pakistan were also blocked in June. Turkey, Thailand and UAE were blocked as of October 2009. The ban on Malaysia has since been removed. As of September 2010 site was accessible again from Serbia, but starting of December 2010 access was removed once again. Veoh is also blocked in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Mongolia.

As of July 26, 2011 service has been restored to these blocked countries.

Legal issues

June 23, 2006: IO Group, Inc. filed a complaint against Veoh Networks, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for California's Northern District. The Court has granted the Veoh's motion for summary judgment, that it was entitled to the statute's "safe harbor" provision.

September 4, 2007: Universal Music Group Recordings, Inc. et al. filed a complaint against Veoh Networks, Inc. et al. in the California Central District Court. On September 15, 2009, the case was dismissed with the judge stating that Veoh was taking the necessary steps to stop copyright infringement. Universal Music Group planned to appeal the decision.

February 12, 2010: Veoh plans to file for Bankruptcy under Chapter 7 on March 19, 2010.

April 8, 2010: Veoh assets acquired by Qlipso.

See also

Comparison of video services

Google Video

YouTube

Metacafe

blip.tv

''IO Group, Inc. v. Veoh Networks, Inc.''

References

External links

Archive page of former Veoh web site

Interview with Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of Veoh in socalTECH

VEOH on Ubuntu (and some others) with wine

Veoh on almost all platforms with Veohproxy

Video critical of Veoh's new policy of blocking countries from accessing its videos

Category:Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Category:Video hosting Category:Video on demand services Category:Time Warner Category:American websites Category:Companies based in San Diego, California Category:Goldman Sachs Category:Intel Corporation Category:Private equity portfolio companies

ca:Veoh de:Veoh et:Veoh es:Veoh eo:Veoh fr:Veoh it:Veoh hu:Veoh nl:Veoh ja:Veoh

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	The Guns
background	group_or_band
origin	Abertillery, Wales
genre	Rock, Powerpop
years active	2005–present
website	The Guns
current members	Alex WiltshireAdam TurnerTom CoburnRhian Williams
past members	Andrew RobinsonMichael Leigh Gregory }}

The Guns are a four-piece rock band from South Wales. The current line-up consists of Alex Wiltshire (vocals and guitar), Adam Turner (lead guitar), Tom Coburn (bass guitar) and Chris 'Stix' Davies (drums). The band have stated that they would like to remain independent and have turned down numerous record deals as a result of that. As of 2009, The Guns have released two EPs, and one album.

History

Early years (2005 - 2007)

After the once popular South Wales band When Reason Sleeps, which contained the frontman for fellow Welsh band The Blackout, Sean Smith, broke up, lead singer Alex Wiltshire set out and recruited Adam Turner on lead guitar, Tom Coburn on bass guitar, and Kob on drums. The Guns were formed, and after a small amount of gigs, they were asked by Pontypridd band Lostprophets to support them during their Liberation Transmission tour, The Guns accepted the offer and went on to play on the main stage at The Full Ponty 2007. Also, during this period The Guns had started work on their debut album ''With The Guns'', and had released a ''self-titled 3 track CD'' available through their Myspace and at gigs.

With The Guns (2007 - 2009)

After touring with Lostprophets, the band worked on ''With The Guns'' (produced by Richard Emanuel at The Lodge Productions studio), and in late 2008, shortly after completion of ''With The Guns'', Andrew Robinson left the band and in early 2009, Michael Leigh Gregory was recruited to replace Robinson on drums. ''With The Guns'' was released on iTunes on 17 July 2009. The album was released independently by The Guns, and peaked at #18 on the iTunes Alternative Album chart.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It (2009/2010)

The Guns began work on their follow-up album in 2008, and the band announced on their Myspace page the title of their next album, ''If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It''. They soon began touring, playing many shows, including their first Cardiff show in over a year, and shows with The Blackout, Funeral For A Friend, Bowling For Soup and CKY. In early 2010, Michael Lee Gregory was replaced by Rhian Williams and the band's music video for "Gordon's And Lemonade" began to appear on UK music channel, Lava TV. The Guns released the single "Treacle & Pie" on iTunes on 28 June 2010, with pre-order sales getting it to #58 after just its third day of availability.

Media interest

The Guns have attracted frequent interest from the media, including four appearances on ITV 1's ''The Guestlist''. Music magazines ''Kerrang!'' and ''Rock Sound'' have been following The Guns' progress during records, as well as live performances, and have given positive feedback about the band. The Guns also have given interviews and received articles in newspapers including ''Metro'' and the ''Western Mail''. It was in the ''Western Mail'' that it was reported The Guns are currently being filmed for a documentary or possibly a film which has been pitched to UK television channels Channel 4 and MTV, although no further details have been revealed.

Discography

Albums

''The Guns'' (2006)

#No No Know #Überwoman #Colder

''With The Guns'' (2009)

#It's On Like Donkey Kong #No No Know #You Can Eff Right Off #Kings And Queens #Better Off Walking #Gordon's And Lemonade #North Or South #Überwoman #Third Strike #This Old House #Listen Up #A Year And Two Studios Ago

''Treacle & Pie'' (2010)

#Treacle & Pie #Colder (Live) #No No Know (Acoustic) #Sometimes (Acoustic)

''If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It'' (Yet to be released)

#Daughter Of A Bad Man #All Aboard #Treacle And Pie #Answers At The Bottom #Voodoo Boogie #You Drive And I'll Eat This #The Missing Girls #I Moan Kill You To #Nighty Night Creepin #Stranger Than You

Singles

"Gordon's And Lemonade" [taken from the album ''With The Guns''] (2009)

"Treacle & Pie" (2010)

Videos

"Gordon's And Lemonade" [taken from the album ''With The Guns''] (2009)

"It's On Like Donkey Kong" [taken from the album ''With The Guns''] (2009)

References

External links

The Guns official website

Category:British rock music groups Category:Welsh rock music groups Category:Welsh musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 2005 Category:Musical quartets

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Koda Kumi
background	solo_singer
birth name	(Kōda Kumiko)
alias	Kuu(-chan)
born	November 13, 1982Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
instrument	Singing
genre	Pop, R&B;, rock, urban, dance, electropop
occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress, spokesperson, voice actress
years active	2000–present
label	Rhythm ZoneOrpheus Records (USA)
associated acts	Clench & Blistah, Daisuke D.I. Imai, M-Flo
website
notable instruments	}}

(born November 13, 1982), better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer and songwriter from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B; songs. Having debuted in 2000 with the single "Take Back", Koda gained fame for her seventh single, "real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba", the songs of which were used as themes for the video game ''Final Fantasy X-2''. Her popularity grew with the release of her fourth studio album ''Secret'' (2005), her sixteenth single "Butterfly" (2005), and her first greatest hits album ''Best: First Things'' (2005), reaching the number-three, number-two and number-one spot respectively.

Though her early releases presented a conservative, quiet image, since as early as 2003 Koda has adopted a sexier and more provocative style. Because of this image, she has become a fashion leader among young women, setting trends such as the ero-kakkoii style. She has also won many fashion awards such as, the "Best Jeanist Award" and the title of "Nail Queen" all times since 2006. Since the rise in her popularity, Koda has lent her face and songs to many advertisements. In 2006 and 2007, Oricon awarded with Koda the title of best-selling artist. Jonathan Ross has called her the Christina Aguilera of Japan.

Life and music career

Early life and music interest

Koda was born into a family of musicians. Her grandfather was a Shakuhachi master and her mother was a Koto teacher; she is the older sister of Misono, current solo artist and former lead singer of Day After Tomorrow. Inspired by her mother, who performed in karaoke bars, Koda, from a young age, had aspirations of becoming a singer. Her school years were unhappy; she described her junior and high school years as "obscure times", as she was bullied due to her "fatness", "shortness", "ugliness", and other factors related to her appearance. During her second year of high school Koda auditioned in Avex’s "Dream Audition", where she came in second out of 120,000 participants. She was then signed onto the Avex sub-label Rhythm Zone. Koda's first semi-biographical book, ''Koda-shiki'' ("Koda-style") was officially described as "a story about a girl who was filled with inferiority complex pursuing her way".

2000–2004: Early career and image change

Koda debuted on December 6, 2000, with the single "Take Back"; it was followed by "Trust Your Love", "Color of Soul" (both 2001), and "So into You" (2002). "Trust Your Love" and "Color of Soul" were both Top 30 singles; the former reached #18 on the chart and became Koda's first Top Twenty single. Using the stage name Koda, Koda recorded "Take Back" and "Trust Your Love" in English and released the singles in the United States under Orpheus Records. "Take Back" peaked at #18 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart; "Trust Your Love" had more success, reaching the top spot on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart. The single also charted on the Hot Singles Sales chart and Hot Dance Club Play chart, at #19 and #35, respectively. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Koda recorded the charity single "The Meaning of Peace" with Korean singer BoA as part of Avex's Song+Nation project to raise funds for charity. In March 2002, Koda released her debut album ''Affection'' under Rhythm Zone; it peaked at #12 on the Oricon album chart.

After the release of ''Affection'', Koda released three singles. "Love Across the Ocean", "Maze" (both 2002), and "real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba" (2003). "Love Across the Ocean" and "Maze" peaked at #19 and #25 positions. Koda achieved minor success with "real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba", which peaked at #3 after three weeks on the charts. The songs were used as the opening and ending themes, respectively, of the video game ''Final Fantasy X-2''; in addition, Koda motion-acted the dance moves of one of the characters and voiced the character Lenne in the Japanese version of the game. She released her second album, ''Grow into One'' in March 2003. It debuted at #11 on the charts, and peaked at #8 in the fourth week of its run.

From then on, Koda continued a string of Top Twenty singles with "Come with Me", "Gentle Words" (both 2003) and "Crazy 4 U" (2004). She then released her third album ''Feel My Mind'' (February 2004), which debuted at #7. Koda also covered the theme song of the anime series ''Cutie Honey'' originally by Yoko Maekawa for the 2004 live-action film and ''Re: Cutie Honey''. The song, which shared the same name as the show, was included as a bonus track on the album and became the title track of her eleventh single "Love & Honey" (2004), after the album's release. At the end of the year Koda released two more singles, "Chase" and "Kiseki". Though Koda had always been known for her changing fashions in her music videos, the video of "Kiseki" marked the beginning of her incorporation of her sexy image into her music videos.

During her image change, Kumi stated her concern about what her parents would think. When they approved and supported her, she chose to keep the style that would become infamous with her name: "ero-kakkoi".

2005–2006: Growing popularity

Koda's first release of 2005 was her fourteenth single, "Hands" (January 19). Less than a month later, she released her fourth album, ''Secret''. ''Secret'' debuted at #3 and became her first album to debut in the Top Five. The album was certified double platinum by the RIAJ for selling 521,000 copies total. Koda then released her fifteenth single, "Hot Stuff", from the album. Shortly afterwards, Koda released her first live DVD, ''Secret: First Class Limited Live''. In 2006, Oricon reported that ''Secret: First Class Limited Live'' had set a new record on the music DVD charts by remaining at the top of the Oricon DVD charts for seven weeks in total.

Koda then released her sixteenth single, "Butterfly". "Butterfly" debuted at #2 on the Oricon chart, her first single to do so. "Butterfly" was followed by "Flower" and "Promise/Star"; both peaked at #4 in the weekly chart. In September, Koda released her first greatest hits album, ''Best: First Things''. The album debuted at #2 on the chart in its first week and rose to the top the following week, giving Koda her first number-one album. ''Best: First Things'' sold over a million copies and was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

In December, Koda began the "12 Singles Project" in which for twelve consecutive weeks, she released one single per week (nine of which were labeled as limited editions). The first single of the 12 Singles Project, "You", debuted at the top of the chart, giving Koda her first number-one single. Koda then released "Birthday Eve", "D.D.D.", and "Shake It Up" before the end of the year. Koda released the remaining eight singles in the beginning of the new year. The first single was "Lies", followed by "Feel", "Candy", "No Regret", "Ima Sugu Hoshii", "Kamen", "Wind" and "Someday/Boys & Girls". On the same day as she released the last single from the project, she released digitally Koda Kumi Remix Album, which includes remixes of songs from project. "Feel", the fifth single from the project, debuted atop the charts. "You" remained in the Oricon Top Ten during the release of "Shake It Up" and "Lies", making Koda the first female artist to have three singles in the Top Ten of the Oricon Weekly Singles chart. Koda's fashion in this period, in which she wore skin-baring clothes, started the ero-kakkoii trend in Japan. "Get It On", the thirteenth and last single of the "12 Singles Project", was Koda's first digital single; it was followed by her second greatest hits album, ''Best: Second Session''. The album featured all twelve singles along with two new tracks and was released in three different formats: CD-only, CD+DVD, and CD+2DVD. ''Best: Second Session'' debuted at the top of the chart with 983,000 copies sold in its first week, making Koda the first female artist with the highest greatest hits album debut sales since Hikaru Utada's ''Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1''. Like ''Best: First Things'', ''Best: Second Session'' was certified million by the RIAJ.

After ''Best: Second Session'', Koda released "Koi no Tsubomi". "Koi no Tsubomi" was released online one day before its physical release and sold one million downloads. The single reached #2 in its debut week with 140,000 copies sold. This was the highest debut week sales for a female artist in 2006, until Ayumi Hamasaki surpassed it with her single "Blue Bird". On July 26, 2006, Koda released her first photobook, ''Maroc''; the book, photographed by Leslie Kee, was tied with her thirty-second single "4 Hot Wave", which was released on the same day. Koda reclaimed the title of highest debut week sales for a female artist in 2006 with "4 Hot Wave"; which also ranked second behind the KinKi Kids. "4 Hot Wave" is Koda's nineteenth consecutive single to debut in the Top Ten since "Kiseki". Koda's next single, "Yume no Uta / Futari de..." (2006), was a musical first for Koda, as she took full creative control over the production of the single and music video; she wrote the lyrics, chose the outfits, and produced the concepts for the videos of both songs. Koda then recorded a cover of the Bubblegum Brothers' "Won't Be Long" with label-mates Exile. "Cherry Girl/Unmei" was the last single Koda released before releasing her fifth album ''Black Cherry'' in December. ''Black Cherry'' became the first female studio album to stay atop the charts for four weeks since Ayumi Hamasaki's album ''Duty''. At the end of 2006, Oricon named her the best-selling artist of 2006 with ¥12,702,200,000 profit (approximately $136,465,304), and Yahoo! Japan declared her to be the most-searched female artist and tenth most searched term overall in 2006.

2007–2010: Decline in sales and controversy

On March 14, 2007, Koda released her thirty-fifth single ("But/Aishō"), another greatest hits album (''Best: Bounce & Lovers''), and a DVD of her second tour ''Live Tour 2006–2007: Second Session''. Her second single of 2007, "Freaky", reached the top spot on the Oricon, giving Koda her fourth number-one single. Koda performed at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo on July 7, 2007, and attended Ap Bank Fes '07, an conservationist-themed concert, hosted by Kazutoshi Sakurai of Mr. Children on July 15, 2007. At the end of 2007, Koda released two singles, "Ai no Uta" and "Last Angel", a collaboration with Korean boy band TVXQ better known as Tohoshinki in Japan. "Last Angel" was used as the theme song for the Japanese release for ''Resident Evil: Extinction''. On December 1, she held her first performance at Tokyo Dome for her third nationwide and first arena tour. Koda became the seventh solo female singer to perform at Tokyo Dome with an estimated audience of 45,000 people. Having sold more than 7.3 billion yen worth of CDs and DVDs, Koda was again the best-selling artist of the year in Oricon's 2007 year-end rankings.

Koda released her thirty-ninth single "Anytime" on January 23, 2008; it was followed by her sixth studio album ''Kingdom'', which was released in the same format as her previous album. With a little over 420,000 copies sold in its first week, ''Kingdom'' debuted atop the Oricon. On January 31, Koda hosted ''All Night Nippon''; discussing her manager's recent marriage and plans on having children, Koda remarked that "When women turn 35, their amniotic fluid goes rotten, so I'd like them to have a child by 35". Because of the controversy instigated by the comment, Avex released an apology stating that as a consolation, all promotion of ''Kingdom'' would cease. Additionally, several of Koda's commercial endorsements were placed on hiatus. Koda herself made a public apology on Fuji TV. Despite the controversy, ''Kingdom'' remained on top for a second consecutive week. Two months after her controversial statement, Koda released ''Live Tour 2007: Black Cherry Tour Special Final in Tokyo Dome'', her fourth live DVD. Her fourth nationwide tour ''Koda Kumi Live Tour 2008: Kingdom'' commenced on April 12, 2008.

Koda's fortieth single "Moon" was released on June 11, 2008. Like "Freaky", "Moon" contained four tracks. The single contained "Moon Crying", used as the theme for Asahi Television drama ''Puzzle'', and a collaboration track with The Black Eyed Peas' Fergie Koda again attended Avex's annual summer concert ''A-Nation '08''. She appeared at all eight shows in Japan and performed with other Avex artists such as Every Little Thing, Ai Otsuka, Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, TVXQ, and Maki Goto. In October, Koda released her forty-first single, "Taboo". With around 66,000 copies sold in its first week, "Taboo" debuted at the number-one position and became Koda's fifth single to reach the top. Koda released her forty-second single "Stay with Me" on Christmas Eve, which debuted atop of the chart selling 58,000 copies. Koda's seventh studio album, ''Trick'', was another number-one album for the singer, selling 253,000 in its first week. The album stayed at the number-one spot for a second week selling 56,000 copies. Although the album debuted at the number-one position, this was her lowest selling album since her fourth studio album, ''Secret''. |group=fn}}

On March 25, Koda released two albums, ''Out Works & Collaboration Best'' and ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's'' . The former is a compilation of collaborations with other artists and the latter is a remix album. ''Out Works & Collaboration Best'' and ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's'' debuted at #7 and #6 respectively. Koda's forty-third single, "It's All Love!", was released on March 31, 2009. The single, a collaboration with her younger sister Misono, debuted atop the Oricon, making the sisters the first siblings to have a single top the chart in its initial week. The second song from the single, "Faraway", was used as the theme song for the manga-based movie ''Subaru''. On July 8, 2009, Koda released her forty-fourth single, "3 Splash". The single debuted at #2 on the charts making it Koda's thirty-third Top 10 single. Following the release of "3 Splash" was her forty-fifth single, "Alive/Physical Thing", which took the number-one spot on the single charts.

2010–present: Celebration of the 10th Anniversary

On January 20, 2010, Koda released a new single titled, "Can We Go Back", which is a cover of a bonus track on Kelly Clarkson's 2009 album ''All I Ever Wanted''. On February 3, 2010, Koda released a new best album, ''Best: Third Universe'', and her eighth studio album, ''Universe'', which are packaged together under the name of ''Best: Third Universe/Universe''. On July 7, 2010, she released her 47th single, "Gossip Candy," which peaked at number 4 on the Oricon chart. On September 22, 2010, she released her 48th single "Suki de, Suki de, Suki de./Anata Dake ga," two ballads and a rerecorded version of "Walk". The DVD release of her tour "Koda Kumi Live Tour Universe" was released on October 6, 2010. A week later Koda released her first cover-album ''Eternity: Love & Songs'', on which she covers songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Koda didn't release a number-one single in 2010, her first time since 2004 not to do so. On December 5, 2010, Koda held a concert celebrating her 10th Anniversary named "FANTASIA", where she performed a selection of songs from all over her career. The concert was filmed for DVD release and held at Tokyo Dome.

On February 2, 2011, her 49th single "Pop Diva" was released and on February 23, 2011, Koda released "Eternity -Love & Songs- at Billboard Live" an audio DVD of her performance at Billboard Live Tokyo in October 2010, where she performed many songs from her ''Eternity: Love & Songs'' cover album. She released her ninth studio album named ''Dejavu'' on March 2, 2011. Koda is planning to release ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 3'' in March. Koda Kumi is featured in the ''Far East Movement'' song Make It Bump, which was only released on the japanese edition of their album "Free Wired". On May 18, 2011, Koda released the DVD of her "FANTASIA" concert entitled "KODA KUMI 10th Anniversary ～FANTASIA～in TOKYO DOME". Alongside DVD, the concert was also released in Blu-Ray format. Her previous concerts were also re-released in Blu-Ray format. Koda's 50th single was released August 17, 2011. The single is titled "4 Times" and includes 4 songs as well as 4 music videos to accompany them (Such as her previous 2006 summer single, "4 Hot Wave"). Since it is Koda's 50th single, it was released in 2 different special limited edition commemorative versions. One comes with 50 Koda Kumi 50th Anniversary post cards and the other with a special digital camera. Immediately after the release of "4 Times", it was posted on her official website that her 51st single, "Ai Wo Tomenaide" will be released September 21, 2011. A preview of the audio has already been posted on her official Youtube. A 2 minute preview of the single's PV was leaked and can be found in various websites across the internet (not released on the official Youtube).

Musical style

Koda's musical style is mainly Japanese Urban and R&B; however, it was only after Koda signed to Rhythm Zone that Japanese Urban and R&B; became her main musical styles. But throughout her career her musical style has spanned additional styles such as rock, hip-hop, electropop and dance.

Themes

Koda has even explored the themes of sexuality and taboos in her lyrics. While listening to the music of "But", the first thing that came to Koda's mind was homosexuality. Regarding the theme of homosexuality, Koda said in an interview: "I'm the type of person who thinks that [in a relationship] it doesn't matter what sex the other person is. No matter who they are, it doesn't change the 'I love this person' feeling, does it?" The video for "Taboo" portrayed homosexuality and other "taboo" subjects to deliver Koda's message of "there really is no such thing as a taboo". She also said of "Taboo"'s themes, "Instead of trying stuff out and experiencing it, we put up a 'No' sign, we never try to break the taboos" and "Sometimes we shouldn't retreat into safety, we should have courage to do things. Those are the feelings in the song." Such themes are also present in her music videos: she has incorporated her "sexy" image into her videos since "Kiseki" through sexually-charged dances and skin-baring outfits. The video of "Ima Sugu Hoshii" featured two males in sexual positions, and the video of "Juicy", which also featured sexual posturing, was censored in Taiwan.

Lyrics and composition

Since the start of her career Koda has been writing the lyrics to her songs. On her second studio album, ''Grow into One'', Koda wasn't as much involved with the writing of the lyrics, as only four songs were written by her. Koda's control over the writing of the lyrics grew with her thirty-third single "Yume no Uta / Futari de... ". The single was originally intended to be a single song about "happy love", however Koda felt the melody had represented both the elements of happiness and sadness. She wrote the lyrics for both songs to represent the sadness and the happiness. In doing so Koda ended up creating two songs with the same melody. She remarked, "It was a first time experiment for me, but I was able to convey how happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin." Koda lists Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé Knowles as her inspirations; she has also stated that when she produces, she "is like a different person"; thus, she refers to herself in the third person and "looks at [herself] objectively".

Koda was not as involved concerning the composition of her songs. , from ''Black Cherry'', marked the first time she composed a song. Her involvement in the composition stage grew during the production of her seventh studio album ''Trick''.

Image

Awards

Koda won her first award at the 47th Japan Record Awards for ''Butterfly'' on January 1, 2006, and was awarded "Triple Crown" at the Japan Gold Disc Awards on March 10, 2006, for pocketing three awards: "Pop Artist of the Year", "Pop Album of the Year", and "Music Video of the Year". She continued to win more awards for this song; on May 27, 2006, the MTV VMAJ's awarded Koda with "Best Female Video" and "Best Video of the Year" for "Butterfly", and "buzzASIA from Japan" for "Trust You", a track from her album ''Secret''. Later in 2006, her song "Yume no Uta" from her 33rd single, "Yume no Uta / Futari de...", garnered Koda more awards. She was a Grand Prix winner at the 39th Japan Usen Grand Prize.

On May 26, 2007, Koda won three awards from MTV Video Music Awards Japan for the second year in a row. "Yume No Uta" was nominated in three categories and won "Best Female Video and "Best Video of the Year". Koda herself won a special award known as "Best Stylish Artist Award". At the 2007 Best Hit Kayōsai Koda's "Ai no Uta" earned her the Grand Prix in the pop category, also winning one of the golden awards for the 49th Nihon Record Taishō.

Koda, while having success on Oricon charts with physical CD sales, maintains success on online music sales as well. It is reported that twenty-two of her music videos chart the top 100 most downloaded videos, with four of her videos dominating the top five, and having "Koi no Tsubomi" top the Overall Downloads Chart, which thirteen of her other songs chart. She has sold more than 10 million records in Japan.

Fashion

Koda has been known for her "sexy" image. In 2003, she started a cleavage-baring trend when she appeared in advertisements wearing a metallic bra. Her 2004 work with the anime movie ''Cutie Honey'' continued this image, and in 2005, she began the "ero-kakkoi" or "ero-kawaii" trend in Japan and was partially responsible for making the wearing of lingerie in public more acceptable in Japan. Koda's image has inspired other artists: Korean singer Ayumi Lee and American Japanese expatriate model-singer Leah Dizon, both known for their use of sexuality in the image, are inspired in part by Koda. Singaporean newspaper ''The New Paper'' suggested that her sexy image was responsible for her sales—she outsold "reigning J-pop queen" Ayumi Hamasaki in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, Koda began winning awards for being a new trendsetter in Japan, including the "Best Jeanist Award" on September 4, 2006, and the title of "Nail Queen" for her nail art on November 21, 2006, by Japan Nail Expo.

In 2006, when the popularity of Japanese singers was declining in Singapore due to the rising popularity of the Korean wave, Koda's sexy image garnered her popularity in the region and renewed interest in J-pop. James Kang, marketing director for Warner Music in Asia, noted that Koda's sexy image is popular not only with men but also with women, even "Japanese aunties", because she uses her image to "make a feminist statement [...] She's constantly telling women to believe in themselves and do what they want to do". In 2007, it was proposed that the term "ero-kakkoii" be added to the Japanese Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words.

Personal life

In August 2007, it was rumored that Koda was dating SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai. The media questioned the artists' agencies on the matter, neither agency had confirmed or denied the rumors. In September, during a variety show that Nakai was a semi-regular on, socialite Dewi Sukarno was discussing her ideal boyfriend mentioned that Nakai and Koda were dating. It was also rumored that the two would get married before Koda's 25th birthday. In the December issue of ''Josei Seven'', it was "confirmed" that the two were dating.

The couple has been dubbed as the "national couple", a nickname last used in the early 1960s when actor Akira Kobayashi married enka singer Hibari Misora. However, some have denied that the relationship is real, claiming that Johnny Kitagawa orchestrated the relationship in order to move SMAP to the Avex label; websites have claimed that Koda is just a cover up for Nakai's real girlfriend.

Discography

Studio albums

2002: ''Affection''

2003: ''Grow into One''

2004: ''Feel My Mind''

2005: ''Secret''

2006: ''Black Cherry''

2008: ''Kingdom''

2009: ''Trick''

2010: ''Universe''

2011: '' Dejavu ''

Cover albums

2010: ''Eternity: Love & Songs''

Compilation albums

2005: ''Best: First Things''

2006: ''Best: Second Session''

2007: ''Best: Bounce & Lovers''

2009: ''Out Works & Collaboration Best''

2010: ''Best: Third Universe''

Remix albums

2006: ''Koda Kumi Remix Album''

2009: ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's''

2010: ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 2''

2011: ''Koda Kumi Driving Hit's 3''

Number-one singles

2005: "You"

2006: "Feel"

2006: "Yume no Uta / Futari de..."

2007: "Freaky"

2008: "Taboo"

2008: "Stay with Me"

2009: "It's All Love!"

2009: "Alive/Physical Thing"

Filmography

Film

Year	|	Role	Notice
2003	''Final Fantasy X-2''		Video Game
2006	''Cherry Girl''	Kumi	Main Role
2011	''Ikemen Desu Ne''	Herself	Episode 1

Footnotes

References

External links

Official Site -

Category:1982 births Category:English-language singers Category:Living people Category:Japanese dancers Category:Japanese female singers Category:Japanese pop singers Category:Japanese rhythm and blues singers Category:People from Kyoto Prefecture Category:Rhythm and blues musicians Category:Rhythm Zone artists Category:Video game musicians

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